To Microchip Or Not To Microchip, That Is The Question
John Bear
According to the American Humane Association, only about 17% of lost dogs and 2% of lost cats actually find their owners after being lost. In fact, more than 20 million pets are euthanized year after year because animal rescue units cannot find the original owners. But you need not fear because there is now an effective way of tracking down lost pets.
Lost pets can easily be found with a microchip. Every chip is encased in a smooth, strong biocompatible glass, and is small enough to fit into a hypodermic needle. The microchip is encoded with an identification number and this unique number can identify them throughout their life.
Veterinarians and most animal shelters can provide this service. If you opt to have a microchip inserted in your pet, the fee is $5 to $10 in most animal shelters, and about $50 at private veterinary clinics. The process is quick and painless as a microchip ID is a very small chip, it's just about the size of a grain of rice.
HomeAgain Pet Recovery Service, 24PetWatch and AVID (American Veterinary Identification Devices) Microchip ID are the three companies that produce these microchip IDs. The companies that produce these microchips have their own national database that stores all the pet information.
A handheld electronic scanner can scan the microchip to retrieve the information. Small handheld scanners are held close to the implant site while scanning and they have a reading range of about 3 inches. Larger, more powerful scanners can be used for various commercial and research applications and they read ranges vary from 6 to 20 inches depending upon specifications.
If a pet is found by local authorities or taken to a shelter, it is scanned during intake to see if a chip exists. If a microchip is detected, authorities call the recovery service and provide them the ID number, the pet's description, and the location of the animal. The recovery service will be the one to notify the owner that the pet has been found, and where to go to recover the animal.
If you are traveling to a country in Europe and many other countries in the world, a microchip is considered mandatory as the immigration officers use it to compare the pet they are scanning to the veterinary documents you have presented. A microchip that meets ISO 11784 should be used, which is a 15-digit chip. However, China requires the 9-digit chip.
There are still some drawbacks despite the fact that microchips to track your pet are completely safe. Some owners are against microchips because there was an issue reported that these microchips cause Fibro Sarcomas in the animals that have been implanted with these devices.
But this doesn't really hamper dog and cat owners to have their pets microchipped. These electronic IDs offer a number of physical advantages over external tags. They are considered remarkably more reliable. The process is even quick and painless, similar to receiving a vaccination. The chip is permanent and can never be lost. The pet's identification number is unique in the world and the database can have the pet's pertinent history.
>From the moment you adopted your pet, your pet's health and safety is in your hands. Whether to have our pets microchipped or not, the decision is yours.
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